2.How would you like to begin
a search for the “one faith” without any knowledge or
guidance?

C.What is needed is surety in
the midst of confusion.A person
must obtain a belief based upon the one faith and hold to it
tightly.

D.Let’s look at this subject
with the idea of obtaining and maintaining a belief that will save us in the
last day.

I.PRODUCE A BELIEF

A.The first step in the
process is to produce a belief within us.

B.To find the one true faith,
there must be an active, diligent pursuit of it.

C.It must be a pursuit into
the Word of the living God.

1.Romans
1:16-17.

For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ:for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to
the Jew first, and also to the Greek.For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith:as it is written, The just
shall live by faith.

a.The gospel is God’s power to save.

b.Within the gospel is the plan whereby God makes men
righteous.

c.This plan is revealed “from faith to faith.”

1)The gospel is “the faith.”

2)It is by the gospel, the faith, that faith is produced in man.Thus, it is from faith (the gospel) to
faith (man’s personal faith).

2.Romans 10:17.

So then faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

3.John 6:44-45.

No man can come
to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:and I will raise him up at the last
day.It is written in the
prophets,And they shall be all
taught of God.Every man therefore
that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father cometh unto
me.

D.If
one does not obtain his belief from the Word of God, it will come from another
source.

2.Numerous warnings are given
in Scripture about false “belief-producing” sources.

a.Matthew 16:6.

Then Jesus said
unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the
Sadducees.

b.I Timothy 4:1-2.

Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in
hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.

1)They depart from “the faith”, the system of faith that will produce
saving faith.

2)They give heed, they listen to seducing spirits and teachings (doctrines)
of devils.

3)What they believe are lies.

2.Even if we do not actively pursue one belief, one will develop:media, education, friends,
etc.

E.Our exhortation to all
present is to delve deeply into the Word of God in order to obtain a belief that
will save the soul.

II.PERSONALIZE THE
BELIEF

A.When we say one must
personalize his belief, we mean that the belief must really be that of the
individual.

1.One beliefs things because
he really believes them.

2.One does not believe just
because of parents, friends, preacher, or society.

B.The example of Paul (Gal.
1:13-16).

For ye have
heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond
measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:and profited in the Jews’ religion above
many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the
tradition of my fathers.But when
it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called my by his
grace, to reveal his Son in my, that I might preach him among the heathen;
immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.

1.You cannot possess a saving
faith, when in your actions you refuse to obey God.

2.This was the problem of the
Jews who wandered in the wilderness.

a.Verbally, they had faith.They would say: “We are the
children of God, and have faith in Him.”

b.They, however, refused to demonstrate that belief in their practice (Heb.
3:7-12).

Wherefore (as
the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts,
as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:when your fathers tempted me, proved me,
and saw my works forty years.Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always
err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.So I sware in my wrath, they shall not
enter into rest.)Take heed,
brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing
from the living God.

CONCLUSION

A.Do you have a belief?If not, we point you to the divine Word
of God.

B.Have you personalized your
belief?Remember, it is a passion,
not just a persuasion.

C.Are you practicing your
belief? (James 2:14).

What doth it
profit, my brethren, Though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?Can faith save
him?